Iraq pushes for international cooperation to block terrorists from acquiring and using chemical and biological weapons

A soldier wearing a gas mask against chemical weapon attack. PHOTO: COURTESY

 

NAIROBI: The Iraqi government is pushing for intensified international cooperation to prevent terrorist groups from acquiring deadly chemical and biological weapons.

This comes as the threat of terrorists using chemical heightened significantly after ISIS stunned the world by using Mustard Gas, a lethal chemical substance, in a recent devastating attack on the Iraqi city of Taza in Kirkuk Province, North of the capital Baghdad.

The attack caused scores of death and injuries of innocent civilians, mostly women and children thereby heightening concerns about proliferation of chemical and biological weapons to terrorist groups.

“The use of chemical weapons by ISIS against the innocent Iraqi civilians especially women, children and the elderly, proves to the International community the grave danger that the terrorist groups are when such weapons are in their possession,” said Mohammed Husham Al-Fityan, the Spokesman of the Iraqi Embassy in Nairobi in a statement that has also been circulated to other world capitals.

He added: “The Government of Iraq urges the need for cooperation to ensure that terrorist groups have no access to such weapons of mass destruction as they will not think twice to use them against innocent civilians as it happened in Taza,”

The Iraqi Government has officially communicated to the United Nations’  Security Council as well as envoys accredited in Baghdad, raising the red flag about the chemical weapons attack, which was the first by ISIS.

“This attack serves as a warning that ISIS, by having such chemical weapons and using them against Iraqi civilians, will not hesitate to use them against other innocent people of other countries of the world, if given the chance,” read the statement.

It added: “There exists the possibility of deploying such weapons to other terrorist groups in other regions within the globe, especially considering that intelligence reports show the existence of communication among ISIS and other terrorist groups in other regions.”

The Iraqi Government urgently called upon the International Community to cooperate to fight against ISIS and to make sure that terrorist groups will not obtain weapons of mass destruction, especially considering the recent attacks that have taken place in Europe, Africa and the Arab world.

Mustard Gas, which is considered as one of the banned chemical weapons by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

The harrowing pictures of the victims of the attacks reveal in graphic and terrible details, the consequences of destructive weapons in the wrong hands.

Security experts have also cautioned in the recent past that if no urgent action is taken by the global security infrastructure to prevent further proliferation of chemical and biological weapons to terrorist groups, the technology may be rapidly shared with other militant groups around the globe including Boko Haram in West Africa and Al Shabaab in East Africa.

Terrorist groups operating in different parts of the world are believed to regularly exploit loopholes to share information, manpower and technology making them more lethal and harder for security agencies to crackdown on.

Recently, Kenya’s Interior Ministry announced steps to strengthen security in Kenya’s civilian biological and chemical research labs of the Kenya Medical Research Institute to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorist groups.

QUICK FACTS

Chemical warfare (CW) involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from nuclear  and biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for nuclear, biological, and chemical (warfare or weapons), all of which are considered "weapons of mass destruction" (WMDs).

Chemical warfare is different from the use of conventional weapons or nuclear weapons because the destructive effects of chemical weapons are not primarily due to any explosive

The offensive use of living organisms (such as anthrax) is considered biological warfare rather than chemical warfare; however, the use of nonliving toxic products produced by living organisms (e.g. toxins such as botulinum toxin, ricin, and saxitoxin) is considered chemical warfare under the provisions of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).

Under this Convention, any toxic chemical, regardless of its origin, is considered a chemical weapon unless it is used for purposes that are not prohibited (an important legal definition known as the General Purpose Criterion).